A highly successful family-run company with strong links to its territory of origin – just look at the logo, displaying one of the Scaliger lords who made Verona such a powerful city in the Middle Ages. And Verona in a bottle – with a winery just outside the city and wines that are a faithful reflection of Veronese classics, with innovations from the company team.
This is Sartori, founded in 1898 and still run by the founding family over 120 years later. The company originally came into being because of the needs of thirsty restaurant clients. Pietro Sartori, the founder, was a trattoria owner and his premises was a favourite haunt of merchants and businessmen of the Verona area, whom Pietro took care to supply with the best Rosso Veronese wine, as it was called back then. It was this inn and its strategic location that would turn Pietro into a wine merchant and led him to buy his first vineyard in Negrar, in 1898, so that good wine would always be on the tables of his devoted clientele.
Pietro’s children were encouraged to business, and it was he who took the company to the next stage. He believed in the company, had a great passion for wine, and worked tirelessly to make Sartori even more respected in the market. The company headquarters was Villa Maria, just outside Negrar, where it still is today. Regolo was a true gentleman, devoted exclusively to his profession and his family, and he used his legendary tasting skills to personally prepare his wines for his customers, who would sign the barrel he presented in confirmation of their approval of the blend.
Production restarted in earnest after the Second World War in 1947. The company grew, the numbers became significant, and expansion remained a priority for Regolo. He improved the technology, bought new machinery, and worked without ever accepting or using, in his own vocabulary, the word “holiday.”
In 1952, Regolo died, and his two young sons, despite the difficulties, assumed control of the company. Pierumberto, in the jargon of the family, became Foreign Minister and looked after the business side, while Franco assumed the title of Minister of the Interior, or in other words, looked after production and personnel management. The modern company, one of the acknowledged leaders in the Verona area, and fiercely proud of its local heritage, is run by brothers Andrea and Luca who prefer the wines to remain elegant and timeless, with their style crafted for the market without compromising authenticity. This is the real Sartori achievement.
Andrea Sartori
The wines – Verona first
Sartori di Verona – the “di Verona” is very important as a descriptor – has always specialised in classic Veronese wines: Amarone and Valpolicella, Soave, Bardolino and Bardolino Chiaretto.
The wines are elegantly reinterpreted and personalised to meet the tastes of consumers from the four corners of the world since international markets, of course, are ever more important. Today, Sartori’s success is in large part due to its sales abroad – 80% of the total in over 50 countries: throughout Europe, in North America, Russia, Asia and Australia.
The two wines the company is now focusing on are typical of the Sartori approach: using the inspiration of Veronese classics to provide products the consumer will easily like and appreciate.. With these two wines, Sartori stretches the borders of the established rules, always using Veronese vines and varietals, but doing so with a freer hand in order to create a style and characteristic identity.
Regolo Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso DOC
Grapes for this wine are hand selected in vineyards north of Verona, and then vinified for 8-15 days days with an on-skin maceration (a relatively short time designed to enhance the typical minerality, freshness and fruit of the varieties used).
Valpolicella grape blend: mostly Corvina (55%), with Corvinone (25%) and Rondinella (15%), enhanced with Croatina (5%). A second fermentation takes place over the lees of dried grapes pressed for use in Amarone during the month of February, producing the popular “Ripasso” style of Valpolicella.
Tasting note: lively, garnet red; intense and long lasting aromas; dry and velvety on the palate with cherry flavours. Full bodied and well balanced.
Food pairing: roast meats and mature hard cheeses.
Marani Bianco Veronese IGT
An IGT white wine made from the same grapes as Soave (100% Garganega) in the Colognola ai Colli district.
Grapes are hand selected for ripeness and then given a 40-day appassimento (grape drying) period in small containers stored in the cool of the cellars.
Light on-skin vinification follows with a part of the wine fermented in wooden barrels and part in stainless steel. The resulting wine is a blend of these two, with remarkable minerality.
Tasting note: intense, golden yellow colour. Ripe fruit on the nose with hints of honey and butter. Full bodied, classy and very smooth. Long aftertaste and excellent balance with the aromas on the nose.
